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The media was largely uninformed, since, following Armstrong's death in 1986, and after the WCG "revolution" of the mid-1990s, there wasn't much of a story. Armstrong's apocalyptic beliefs, tied to the latest headlines, were less important once the Berlin Wall fell and the "mushroom cloud" became far less of a threat. Indeed, since a 1978 investigation and "receivership" of the WCG in California (where, among others, the National Association of Evangelicals filed a friend-of-the-court brief supporting Armstrong), the group had basically faded from the scene. (Garner Ted Armstrong, Herbert's son, had been expelled in 1978, started his own church, was dismissed by its board after a sex scandal and, sadly, died from complications of pneumonia in 2003, heading his own, very small church group, which continues to broadcast his old sermons on cable and public-access TV.)

When the Living Church of God burst on the scene, few knew what to make of it. Jodi Wilgoren in The New York Times did a fair job, but still called the Living Church "a fringe group that advocates literal adherence to the Bible." In The Village Voice, Ward Harkavy (who usually vents his spleen at anything Republican) called the Meredith group a "Little Church of Horrors," speculating that the shooter might have been "driven past the edge by the right-wing sect's nonstop apocalyptic warnings—a set of scare-tactic teachings similar to those used to great effect by the Bush regime's religious zealots."

I knew Roderick Meredith, heard him preach, read his writings, and spent time in his company. He's not a friend per se, but he's also not Jim Jones or David Koresh. He's a peaceful, gentle soul who gets riled up over his beliefs, but has never incited violence or extreme action. If, as some have speculated, a February 26 taped sermon by Meredith calling on LCG followers to get their finances in order helped push Ratzmann over the edge, I would be shocked if there was anything in this particular message that would strike a rational person as a call to arms. (And, indeed, it was reported yesterday that police in Brookfield have ruled out that pre-recorded sermon as having precipitated the crime.)

Because Ratzmann turned his gun on himself, we'll never know (this side of the Judgment) why he did what he did. It's sad that some in the media are suggesting a link which, frankly, cannot be proven: that a Bible-based theology, albeit one far less orthodox than most evangelical creeds, was the trigger for an extreme act.

Blaming the victims
It would be a tremendous stretch, I think, to blame Meredith's preaching for the acts of what seems to have been a madman. When Larry Gene Ashbrook shot and killed seven people, wounded seven others and then took his own life at the Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1999, was Southern Baptist Convention leader Paige Patterson to blame? Hardly. There are, unfortunately, people in the world who are unstable, and who may descend into madness. Any other explanation would require an omniscience we as humans don't possess.

Still, this incident and coverage of it should be a wake-up call for every believer in every church. The scrutiny and false assumptions are especially noteworthy for churches that are less well known than your standard-issue Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, and Roman Catholics. It's important to make sure you've made friends in the media and local government, who can then understand and accurately report what your group is (or is not) should any crisis emerge.

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March (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49